That puts The Tasting Room ahead of such media darlings as New York’s Jean Georges, Momofuku Ko, Blue Hill at Stone Barns and Masa, along with Paris’ 3-Michelin starred Guy Savoy and many other big names.

I mention this because as I continue my weeklong special travel series on South Africa (See my overview on why South Africa is the Ultimate Bucket List Vacation destination), I wanted to highlight the nation’s wonderfully diverse culinary scene, something that might easily get overshadowed by its incredible wildlife and collection of the world’s most luxurious safari lodges. South Africa is not just for nature lovers and photographers; it’s for food and wine lovers too.

I ate at the Tasting Room, and it lives up to its considerable reputation - it is fabulous. But then again, South Africa has a very high culinary bar and I had a lot of great meals there, including this one.

The Tasting Room is located within the luxurious Le Quartier Francais inn, the only Relais & Châteaux property in Franschhoeck, one of the two major towns that comprise the Winelands, South Africa’s prime wine region (the other is nearby Stellenbosch). The Winelands are basically South Africa’s answer to Napa and Sonoma, lying just outside Cape Town, a very popular day or overnight trip for visitors to Africa’s most vibrant and tourist friendly city. Stellenbosch is bigger but more spread out, while Franschhoeck has a long main street lined with restaurants, shops, wine rooms, and galleries - it simply made for visiting. Filled with art and comprised of rooms in swank freestanding cottages arranged around a pool and gardens, Le Quartier Francais is its best hotel, and the Tasting Room its best restaurant. Le Quartier Francais also hosts a wide range of cooking classes for guests, focused on South African specialties, and has a second, more casual restaurant. The two must-visit wineries of note nearby, also with their own excellent restaurants, guided tasting flights and gourmet shops, are Delaire Graff and Fairview, which also makes world class cheese.

A tiny but tasty loaf of cornbread is baked inside this can and served with flavored butter that looks more like ice cream.

The Tasting Room made the San Pellegrino list for the eighth straight year, and the list describes it thusly: “Dutch-born chef Margot Janse’s nine-course African-inspired Surprise Menu, paired with local wines, takes diners on a gourmet safari, highlighting southern African flavors, many of which are sourced from Le Quartier’s gardens. Others, such as Kalahari salt, hail from Namibia. Janse’s aim is to be 100% African in all her produce - she's 80% there.”

Janse was named South Africa’s Top Chef 2012, and is one of the few females named by Relais & Chateaux as one of its “Grand Chefs” (and one of only two Grand Chefs in Africa). The 9-course dinner takes about three and a half hours, but there is also a more abridged but no less delicious 5-course version that “only” takes a little over two hours. All the food is chosen to heavily showcase South African flavors and traditions, but in a very modern and artistic way. For instance, there used to be a prepared bread in supermarkets here that came in a can you took home and cooked (sort of like Pillsbury rolls if you cooked them in their container). Janse recreates this comfort food by baking tiny cylindrical loaves of corn bread (corn is another staple) in cans from a very popular local brand of sardines. There are repeated cultural references along these lines, but don’t worry about them being lost on you because the wait staff here is exquisite and does a phenomenal job of explaining. Janse makes tiny but intricate, perfectly scaled waffles - except from fois gras rather than batter, that are almost too good looking to eat - almost. A signature desert of homemade ice cream encased in an elaborate solid sugar shell is melted by pouring warm caramel sauce over it - both delicious and beautiful. That’s the drill here: creative but well-conceived dishes with a sense of place and a sense of art in a gorgeous setting with perfectly paired South African wines and a well-trained, knowledgeable staff. This is the kind of place food lovers travel a long way just to eat at.

A suite at Le Quartier Francais, the top luxury lodging in South Africa's Winelands.

The Tasting Room sets a high bar for a trip to South Africa, but other places won’t disappoint. The nation has a melting pot cuisine and what are considered “South African” specialties are generally reinvented or adapted from other cultures - much like American cuisine. The most popular things you will see on menus around the country are Cape Malay curries, derived from Malaysian cuisine, and dishes featuring Portuguese piri piri hot pepper sauce, mainly chicken but seafood as well. Given that it is largely bounded by ocean, fresh seafood is huge in South Africa, and one of the most prized local fish is kingklip, which is just fantastic, maybe my favorite fish period, and a must-try. At safari lodges you will see a lot of game on the menus, from warthog bacon to impala filets. South Africans are also mad for barbecue, which they call braai, and you should make it a pint to attend a braai. More than just a way of cooking, a braai is a family, neighborhood or community social event, and the tradition here is most similar to that of Argentina, where the

Seafood and Portuguese flavors are common in South Africa, like this calamari piri piri, with a spicy pepper sauce, from a Pretoria eatery.

entire affair has a near religious fervor, features an assortment of meats, and is always cooked over a real open wood fire. The main difference is that Argentineans swill copious amounts of red wine and the braai is a beer-based fest. One reason for grilling’s popularity here is the excellent quality of meat, including beef, but especially the native Karoo lamb, among the world’s best.

(I was a guest of Le Quartier Francais for one night on my most recent visit to South Africa.)

I am a NY Times Bestselling author and have been traveling the world as a journalist and passionate lover of all things fun for 20 years. I have had weekly columns in USA Today and Investors Business Daily, published thousands of articles in leading magazines from Playboy to...